miércoles, 29 de enero de 2014

Last Christmas, I received from Megatotoro a great tablet as a present. It was the ZaTab ZT2, a big Android tabled that my three-year old daughter loved... Yes, she practically would take it from my hands every time I took the device out.

Well, like a week after I got the tablet, I tried to charge it and the screen was black. I thought that the battery was drained, but I knew something was wrong because I saw no indication of the tablet being plugged.

Sure enough, the tablet's display was not working. My best guess is that my daughter dropped it and a connector was loose.

I did not want to go send it overseas to see if the warranty applied, so the tablet stayed there, with a pitch black display, for two weeks.

Today I decided to open it. I had seen videos of how to do that before but, as my limited experience with computers includes only working with software (thanks to years of suffering with Windows and my successful migration to Linux in 2010), I was not confident that my attempt would be have a happy outcome.

However, if there's something I have learned as a Linux user, it is to look for help (tutorials, forums, etc) on the Web. Thus, I found this Youtube tutorial by Tampatec explaining how to fix the display of an Asus Transformer.

It gave me the push I needed to try.

With the credit card trick I had no problem opening the tablet (well, after Megatotoro told me how to take out the four screws) and I looked for the loose connector... I took a short while because I am not used to working at that level (and much less with hardware!) but I found the culprit and pushed it in as instructed.

The tablet is now perfectly operational. And, sure enough, my daughter is happy as a clam right now using it.

She is not the only happy one, though. I am proud of my accomplishment and my wife will get the new tablet I bought today, before I fixed the ZaTab ZT2.

lunes, 6 de enero de 2014

A. Distros
Whereas I got many great distros to work with regularly, I am still missing Elive and Pisi Linux to have all the distros I want in my laptop. I hope I can get them before Mageia turns 4.

B. Tablets
I never got the Vivaldi tablet... but I received a great ZaTab instead. My three-year old daughter is enjoying it: she has learned how to operate it and she finds no problem switching from a desktop with Mageia/MiniNo to a laptop with PCLOS/Mageia and then to the ZaTab with Android.

C. Games
Desura and Steam have truly compensated for my lacking gaming experience on Linux. When I migrated, I abandoned gaming because some of the games I liked were nearly impossible to play. However, I have discovered some new games that I really like:

The Bard's Tale

Braid

Worms Reloaded

Machinarium

Violett

D. Consoles
I am not such a heavy gamer as to need or want a console. However, I am considering getting a Steam Machine...

E. Projects for 2014
Besides writing several articles, poems, ans short stories (using Linux, of course), I'd like to learn some Python and, why not, trying to learn how to develop Android apps. I mean, I am no programmer, but it sounds like fun.

I am also considering to save some money to buy a new Linux laptop.

Another interesting fact is that now I can buy laptops with Linux preinstalled here. Well, they only do Ubuntu, but it's refreshing... The world is changing.